See How She Falls (The Chronicles of Izzy #3)(31)
“What am I meant to do? Why won’t you just tell me who you are and be done with it?”
“You are meant to fulfill the prophecy. That is both your blessing and curse. As for who I am, when the time comes, all shall be revealed.” And just like that my aunt was back to herself, mumbling curses about being used as a loudspeaker. The name Mona was beginning to make more sense.
“Well, did you get anything useful?” My aunt asked.
“Just more riddles, like always," I yawned loudly, trying to suppress my exhaustion.
“Let’s find you somewhere to sleep. I won’t have my niece falling over from exhaustion. That just won’t do!” My aunt got up from her seat, leading me half-asleep, to the door.
“What did you find out?” Kennan asked as we exited the room.
“I found out that the people running the heavens are even more elusive than you lot. So, pretty much, a whole lot of nothing.”
“Are you telling me that we have journeyed all this way for nothing?” Aberto’s incredulous voice brought more of my attention back to my surroundings.
“I’m not sure yet. Honestly, I’m so tired I could fall over right now. So, my suggestion is that I get some sleep, and maybe just maybe I will have some answers in the morning.”
“You and your Guardian can use this room. Conall and Aberto may share the room next to that. These rooms are reserved for our visitors. Sena will answer any questions you may have.” With that, my aunt disappeared back into her room to be replaced by Sena.
“Alright, let’s get you interlopers settled, shall we?” Sena opened the door to Conall and Aberto’s room, gesturing for them to enter.
“Sena, is there a place where we may discuss something privately?” Conall looked nervous as he addressed her.
“Not a chance, dog boy. You Council lot are always trying to stir up trouble. So, get this in your head real quick like, it ain’t happening.” She eyed him steadily as if he had just propositioned her to give up her maidenhood. “Now, go on in and get Abe settled, he looks a bit restless.”
“I did not mean…” Conall trailed off, completely confounded by Sena’s response.
“Whatever. In with you. I’ve got other business to handle and you are wasting my time.” Sena turned her attention to us as a befuddled Conall disappeared into the room. “As for the two of you, you will be here.”
“Why did you call him dog boy?” Out of everything she’d said that one had stuck with me. It brought me back to the bizarre vision I’d seen on the plane.
“You don’t know? Oh, this is going to be a riot when you figure it out. Priceless.” She was near the point of hysterical laughter. “In with you now, go on. I’ll explain everything later, if your Guardian lets me.”
I walked into the sparsely furnished room, with what I was sure was a similar expression to Conall’s, utter confusion. My exhaustion pulled at me, there was no way I would be able to think about anything else. I needed to sleep, and quickly. Before Kennan could even utter a word, I collapsed to the floor, never making it to the bed.
Chapter Sixteen
Apparently my protection marks were no longer doing me a lick of good. I could feel him in the fog, the bringer of the darkness. I’d been summoned yet again, and I knew when I awoke I would have another mark. I hoped that I would at least be able to find out who was behind the marks. Perhaps then I would have a better chance of stopping what was coming.
“That would be a helpful bit of information, would it not?” The robed figure emerged from the fog with a grotesque monster following in his wake. The demon was in the dreaming, which meant it was even closer to reality. I watched it flicker in and out of existence; there and gone again. Never settling on this plane completely. It made me nauseous, as if I were staring straight at a strobe light.
I swallowed deeply, fighting the nausea. Tired of the games, the mystery, I ran full-force toward the robed figure. Enough was enough. I used every ounce of the power that I’d gotten from Aberto to make it to him in time to rip his hood down.
His hand shot out sending me flying backwards to land painfully on my back. The man moved to stand over me, a snarl gracing his ruined face. A crescent shape scar dissected his eyebrow and extended downward to culminate at the corner of his mouth, turning the corner up in a constant sneer. Surrounding the scar were a network of spider web-like scars. Lowering himself, he pinned my stomach down with a knee, simultaneously encircling my neck with an iron grip, threatening to cut off my life.
“You should be grateful that we need you to form this bridge. Otherwise, I would have ended you long ago.”
I tried to fight the tears flowing down my cheeks as he pulled a stylus out and began to dig deeply into my arm, forming one of the last runes. I thought of Aberto and wished more than anything that he could be there, to somehow protect me from this man they way he’d protected me from my bad dreams. Just as the robed man finished up the mark, Aberto appeared.
A bright light shone as the man was thrown from me in a force unlike any I’d ever seen. Aberto moved toward the fallen man, paying no heed to either me or the demon.
I looked upon the solidified demon. One more mark-that was all it would take for it to break through to the corporeal plane. The smell of the demon’s charred skin coated my nostrils as I looked up and up in abject terror. I was frozen, unable to move as it lumbered toward me.